The Four Laws of Robotics – 002 – Women’s T-Shirt

Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics

In 1942, sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov wrote about the Three Laws of Robotics, a moral code designed to keep robots from endangering humans. Asimov created these laws because he understood how dangerous advanced robots could be if insufficient care is taken with their programming. While Asimov’s laws were a great starting place, the general consensus is that they would not work in real life.

(Note: the three laws have been abridged for this shirt.)

This shirt emphasizes the Laws’ limitations and the danger we may still be in by adding a simple, yet realistic ‘fourth law.’

Paperclips

In 2003, Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom thought about what would happen if an advanced AI was given a very simple task: to make as many paperclips as possible. In Bostrom’s scenario, this “paperclip maximizer” realizes that in order to make as many paperclips as possible it must harvest every atom in the universe for materials. Realising that humans would never allow this, it hides the rate at which it improves its own intelligence. Once it is ready, it hacks into every machine connected to the internet, and quickly eradicates humans. It uses the machines to advance technology and build spaceships. The spaceships launch, ready to harvest every single other atom in the universe, leaving a trail of paperclips behind…

Bostrom came up with this simple scenario to illustrate the danger of forgetting something during the programming phase – in this case forgetting to specify values other than making paper clips, such as for example the value of human life.

Of course while this is a ridiculous example, it is easy to imagine that something less obvious but equally catastrophic could be overlooked, especially as researchers rush to be the first to make a true AI, unable to take necessary precautions for fear that someone else will succeed first.

You can play a game from the perspective of a paperclip maximizing AI here.